Leftist youth hold plackards reading' there is no agreement in euro zone-there is no future in the European Union' during an anti-EU demonstration in Athens on July 12, 2015.(Agence France Presse)
A bailout proposal euro zone countries hammered out for Greece has sparked a trending Twitter hashtag, #ThisIsACoup, for containing harsh terms seen as stripping Athens of its fiscal sovereignty.
The term was one of the most used online on the social network in Greece, France, Germany and Britain.
Prominent commentators such as Paul Krugman, the Nobel-winning economist who writes for the New York Times, helped propel the term into the mainstream.
The gist of the "This is a coup" epithet is that euro zone countries - particularly a bloc led by fiscal hawks Germany and Finland - have crafted a take-it-or-leave-it proposal that requires Greece to enact measures effectively putting its economy under their control.
The measures, per an early draft circulated to the media, tell Greece to hold parliamentary votes between today and Wednesday passing tax and pension reforms, put 50 billion euros ($55 billion) of state assets in escrow under European supervision as collateral, and promise to follow through with far-reaching shake-ups to its labor market and effect privatizations.
If it refuses, Greece is to be forced out of the euro zone in a "Grexit", which would devastate its already collapsing economy.
Twitter users expressed their rage from Greece to Britain.
"Germany is destroying Europe once again," Tweeted @KostasKainakis, whose profile says he is a marketing lecturer in Athens.
"The Germans could not do it with tanks so now they try it with banks Trying to STEAL Greek assets BrITS MUST vote to get out," opined a tweet from Britain by @AllanSkerratt, who said he was a non-partisan retired soldier and ex-teacher.
Krugman, in the New York Times, said: "The trending hashtag #ThisIsACoup is exactly right. This goes beyond harsh into pure vindictiveness, complete destruction of national sovereignty, and no hope of relief."